'\" t
.\"     Title: mkfs
.\"    Author: [see the "AUTHOR(S)" section]
.\" Generator: Asciidoctor 2.0.20
.\"      Date: 2023-10-23
.\"    Manual: System Administration
.\"    Source: util-linux 2.39.3
.\"  Language: English
.\"
.TH "MKFS" "8" "2023-10-23" "util\-linux 2.39.3" "System Administration"
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.SH "NAME"
mkfs \- build a Linux filesystem
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.sp
\fBmkfs\fP [options] [\fB\-t\fP \fItype\fP] [\fIfs\-options\fP] \fIdevice\fP [\fIsize\fP]
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.sp
\fBThis mkfs frontend is deprecated in favour of filesystem specific mkfs.<type> utils.\fP
.sp
\fBmkfs\fP is used to build a Linux filesystem on a device, usually a hard disk partition. The \fIdevice\fP argument is either the device name (e.g., \fI/dev/hda1\fP, \fI/dev/sdb2\fP), or a regular file that shall contain the filesystem. The \fIsize\fP argument is the number of blocks to be used for the filesystem.
.sp
The exit status returned by \fBmkfs\fP is 0 on success and 1 on failure.
.sp
In actuality, \fBmkfs\fP is simply a front\-end for the various filesystem builders (\fBmkfs.\fP\fIfstype\fP) available under Linux. The filesystem\-specific builder is searched for via your \fBPATH\fP environment setting only. Please see the filesystem\-specific builder manual pages for further details.
.SH "OPTIONS"
.sp
\fB\-t\fP, \fB\-\-type\fP \fItype\fP
.RS 4
Specify the \fItype\fP of filesystem to be built. If not specified, the default filesystem type (currently ext2) is used.
.RE
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\fIfs\-options\fP
.RS 4
Filesystem\-specific options to be passed to the real filesystem builder.
.RE
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\fB\-V\fP, \fB\-\-verbose\fP
.RS 4
Produce verbose output, including all filesystem\-specific commands that are executed. Specifying this option more than once inhibits execution of any filesystem\-specific commands. This is really only useful for testing.
.RE
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\fB\-h\fP, \fB\-\-help\fP
.RS 4
Display help text and exit.
.RE
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\fB\-V\fP, \fB\-\-version\fP
.RS 4
Print version and exit.
(Option \fB\-V\fP will display version information only when it is the only parameter, otherwise it will work as \fB\-\-verbose\fP.)
.RE
.SH "BUGS"
.sp
All generic options must precede and not be combined with filesystem\-specific options. Some filesystem\-specific programs do not automatically detect the device size and require the \fIsize\fP parameter to be specified.
.SH "AUTHORS"
.sp
.MTO "david\(atods.com" "David Engel" ","
.MTO "waltje\(atuwalt.nl.mugnet.org" "Fred N. van Kempen" ","
.MTO "sommel\(atsci.kun.nl" "Ron Sommeling" "."
.sp
The manual page was shamelessly adapted from Remy Card\(cqs version for the ext2 filesystem.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.sp
\fBfs\fP(5),
\fBbadblocks\fP(8),
\fBfsck\fP(8),
\fBmkdosfs\fP(8),
\fBmke2fs\fP(8),
\fBmkfs.bfs\fP(8),
\fBmkfs.ext2\fP(8),
\fBmkfs.ext3\fP(8),
\fBmkfs.ext4\fP(8),
\fBmkfs.minix\fP(8),
\fBmkfs.msdos\fP(8),
\fBmkfs.vfat\fP(8),
\fBmkfs.xfs\fP(8)
.SH "REPORTING BUGS"
.sp
For bug reports, use the issue tracker at \c
.URL "https://github.com/util\-linux/util\-linux/issues" "" "."
.SH "AVAILABILITY"
.sp
The \fBmkfs\fP command is part of the util\-linux package which can be downloaded from \c
.URL "https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util\-linux/" "Linux Kernel Archive" "."